Ride The Wind (Vincente 3)

by Constance O'Banyon

  His expression was grim. "What holdings and what deeds are you talking about?"

  "I am sole owner of all the property in Georgia, but we should probably sell it, since we will never live there. Noble says that someone has made a generous offer for it. I also own several thousand head of cattle, Reese. Noble has looked after them for me. But I am sure he would like it if you took them off his hands."

  Reese's voice was cold and without feeling. "Is there anything else you need to tell me about your holdings?"

  She could hear the anger in his voice and didn't understand the reason for it. "I...Noble says that I have five hundred thousand dollars in a bank in New Orleans."

  Reese shot to his feet, anger and indignation burning inside him. "I don't want your cattle, Saber, and I damned sure don't want your money! You can do what you will with your property in Georgia it doesn't concern me."

  "But I"

  "This conversation is over." He walked out of the room, grabbed his hat, and headed for the door. He had to clear his mind. He'd known that Saber had money, but he hadn't imagined it would be so much, and he hadn't expected that he'd be asked to handle it for her.

  Saber tried to stay busy all day. She was still puzzled by Reese's reaction to her money. He must have known she had vast holdings; everyone else did.

  She was making the bed when a heavy knock came at the door. Removing her apron, she went to answer it, thinking it might be Zeb. She stepped back when she saw Matthew standing there.

  Neither of them spoke for a long moment. Then he removed his hat and tucked his gloves into his belt. "May I come in, Saber?"

  "Reese isn't here."

  "It's you I came to see."

  She stepped back so he could enter. "I thought we had said everything we had to say at Fort Griffin."

  He towered over her, his face set in a stone mask. "Why did you do it, Saber?"

  "I assume you are asking why I married Reese."

  "Yes. You belonged to me. We just had a misunderstanding. I was going to let you stew for a little while, and then I thought we would settle everything between us."

  "I'm sorry for what happened between us, Matthew, but you didn't really love me, and you know it."

  He advanced farther into the room. "How can you know how I feel about you?"

  She wanted him to leave before Reese came home, so she didn't offer him a chair. "If you had cared about me, you would not have behaved as you did that night."

  "I'm sorry for that, and I always will be. I went to your room the next morning, but you had already left. My mother urged me to ride to Casa del Sol and bring you back, but I thought I'd just give you a few weeks to think over our situation."

  "Matthew, it didn't take me a few weeks to think about it. I realized when I saw you that we didn't love each other."

  He reached out and grabbed her, dragging her resisting body against his. "For years I have thought of nothing but you. I wanted you for my wife. I wanted to spend my life with you. I don't care if you are married to Reese; you still belong to me!"

  She struggled, trying to push him away, but he held her fast. "Matthew, let me go. You're hurting me!"

  "I'll never let you go," he said in a growl, holding her head between both hands and covering her mouth with his.

  She struggled and pushed at him, but he forced her mouth open and crammed his tongue inside. He lifted her, fitting her most intimate part to his swollen loins. He trembled and held her there by sheer force. No matter how much she struggled, he would not let her go.

  Finally she tore her mouth away from his and started pounding him on the chest. "Reese will kill you for this, Matthew!"

  "You're mine! You have been since that first day I saw you in Georgia." He held her close to him as he spoke. "I was wrong; I know that now. But you shouldn't have married Reese."

  "I love Reese. What I felt for you was affection and gratitude for helping me and my aunt when we needed it. I was too young to know my mind at that time, Matthew."

  "You can't love Reese-you still love me!"

  "Reese is my husband. Take your hands off me!"

  Both of them heard the door open, and Saber twisted toward Reese and saw the murderous look in those cold, gray eyes. "Let her go, Matthew."

  Matthew's arms only tightened around Saber. "You had no right to marry her. You knew she belonged to me."

  Saber pushed against him. "I don't belong to you. Let me go!"

  Reese grabbed Matthew's arm and, with sheer force, pried Saber away from him. He shoved her behind him and faced his friend. "You had no right to come here like this, Matthew. I'm going to ask you to leave now."

  "I thought you were my friend," Matthew said bitingly. "I trusted you to rescue Saber from the Millers, when all along I should have been worrying about you seducing her."

  "Leave now, Matthew. And I don't ever want to see you here again," Reese said in a quiet voice. Saber would not have known he was angry if she hadn't been watching his eyes.

  "You owe me an explanation before I leave here, and so does Saber."

  "I might owe you something, but my wife doesn't," Reese said.

  "What did you do to make her turn from me to you?"

  Reese guided Saber to the bedroom door. "You need to leave while I explain some things to Matthew."

  "No, I won't," she stated stubbornly. "This concerns me, and I'm not leaving!"

  Matthew stared at Saber. "You would settle for living in this hovel when I was willing to lay all Philadelphia at your feet? Reese isn't anything like you and me. He has rough ways, and he-'I

  "That's enough!" she declared. "Reese is my husband, and this is our home." She was trembling, she was so angry. "You asked some impossible things of me, Matthew. I could never have married you after that night." She paused. She'd never told Reese about the things Matthew had said to her in the hotel room after the dance.

  Matthew turned to Reese. "I was drunk. I said and did some things I'm not proud of. Apparently she still holds it against me."

  Reese's gaze went to Saber. "What kind of things?"

  Matthew could not believe that Saber hadn't told Reese about what had happened. "Reese, you know a man will do and say things when he's drunk that he'd never say sober."

  "What kind of things?" Reese demanded a second time. "Matthew, you'd better tell me now."

  Matthew shrugged. "I kissed her."

  Reese turned back to Saber. "That's all?"

  "No," she said. "That's not all. I wasn't ever going to tell Reese, Matthew, but since you've brought it up, tell him the truth, or I shall."

  Bitterness crept into Matthew's blue eyes. "I would never have done anything to her, Reese. I may have made some threats and touched her in an ungentlemanly way, but I'd never have gone through with it. I'm not like that. I would never have raped you, Saber."

  Reese reached out and pulled Saber to him. "Get out, Matthew. This ends our friendship. Don't ever come here again."

  Matthew's face went red. "I really came here to help you. But when I saw Saber, I lost my head and my temper."

  "Say what you came to say and then go," Reese told him.

  Matthew met Reese's icy stare. "Graham Felton has spread it all over Fort Worth, so you'll hear about it soon enough anyway. I just wanted to be the one to tell you first, since it concerns me."

  Reese's voice was still cool. "I'm listening."

  "We wrongly suspected that Felton had Saber kidnapped for her brother's money."

  Reese's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying? You'd better explain yourself."

  Matthew lowered his gaze because he could no longer look into Reese's cold eyes, and he was too ashamed to look at Saber. "Felton had her kidnapped to get back at me."

  Reese's fists balled at his sides. "What for? There has to be a reason."

  "I had seen Felton's sister, Gwen, several times." His gaze went to Saber. "It meant nothing to me. She just made too much out of it."

  "Go on," Reese urged, feeling Saber stiffen beside h
im. She must be feeling sick inside at Matthew's confession.

  "It seems Gwen Felton expected me to marry her, which, of course, I had no intention of doing. She knew I was going to marry Saber."

  "So this is why Felton had Saber kidnapped," Reese said with doubt in his tone. "It doesn't sound like a good reason to me. He went to a lot of trouble just to punish a man who wouldn't marry his sister."

  "There's more to it," Matthew admitted, studying the floor. "It seems the girl... killed herself. She left a note that said she didn't want to live after I rejected her. It wasn't my fault that she had this crazy infatuation with me."

  Saber closed her eyes and leaned heavily against Reese. "Mr. Felton wanted to punish you for his sister's death. How very tragic."

  "The whole family is crazed, if you ask me," Matthew stated. "Since Felton's spread this story around, my reputation has suffered. I'll not be seeking public office after this."

  "Then it's all over, and Felton will leave Saber alone, since she's married to me," Reese said angrily. Matthew was not the man he'd thought he was. He had fooled a lot of people, including Graham Felton's pitiable sister. "You've told me what was on your mind now you can leave."

  "It's still not over, Reese. Felton's saying that he's coming after Saber because he knows I still love her."

  Saber ran from the room, feeling sick. She closed the bedroom door and fell across the bed. Oh, that poor woman, she thought. It was such a pity that the man she had died for didn't seem to be as concerned about her death as he was about his own reputation. She felt pity for the poor unfortunate girl who had loved so unwisely. After this day she'd never be sorry for Matthew again.

  She didn't hear Matthew leave, or Reese ride away.

  Reese rode toward the high country. He needed to think. He remembered how strangely Saber had acted that night in the livery stable. Now he knew why. Matthew had tried to rape her. His lip curled in anger. He should have killed Matthew.

  He rode up a mesa and stared out over his land. "Why didn't you tell me, Saber?"

  He knew the answer. The woman he'd married had been brought up with honor. She hadn't told him about Matthew because she didn't want to cause trouble between him and his friend.

  That was some woman he'd married. He wondered if he'd be worthy of her.

  His gaze went to the south. If Felton came, he'd come from that direction. He had to do more to protect Saber. She must never be left alone.

  He nudged his mount forward, suddenly needing to see Saber. So far she had done everything right, and he'd done everything wrong. He just didn't know how to be a husband. He knew he loved her so damned much it hurt.

  He suddenly needed her soft arms around him. He needed to hold her and know she was safe. One thing was sure: Felton was a very dangerous and unpredictable man. If he said he'd be coming after Saber, then that was exactly what he'd do. But when and where? That was the question.

  It was long after sundown when Reese reached the house. He unsaddled his horse, and when Jake came into the barn, he told the boy to finish for him.

  Reese didn't see Jake smile when his boss hurried toward the house. Everyone on the ranch knew Reese was burning for his beautiful wife.

  When he entered the house, Saber wasn't in the parlor. He went into the kitchen, and she wasn't there either, but she had left him a plate of food warming on the back of the stove.

  It seemed to him that the harsher he was to her, the kinder she was to him. He didn't understand a woman like her. Why was he doing his best to drive her away when all he wanted was to keep her with him?

  He walked into the bedroom and found her curled up in bed asleep. Her hand was resting against her cheek, and he reached out and touched her face.

  Saber awoke instantly and smiled at him. "Did you eat?"

  He sat down on the bed and removed his boots. "I wasn't hungry."

  "I don't like it when you don't eat, Reese. When a man works as hard as you do, he needs food."

  He unbuttoned his shirt and then stripped off his trousers, sliding into bed beside her.

  "Reese," she said, moving closer to him. "Don't be mad at me because I didn't tell you about Matthew."

  "I know why you didn't tell me." He turned his head toward her. "For the noblest of reasons. You knew he was my friend."

  She smiled. "You know me too well to place a halo on my head, Reese. I think, if I'm truthful, I just didn't want to tell you or anyone how unworthy he was of a woman's love. We certainly saw proof of that today."

  "Yes. Yes, we did."

  She looked unsure. "Are you still angry with me?"

  He pulled her into his arms, and she curled up to him like a warm kitten. "I was never mad at you, Saber." His hand trailed down her arm. "I was mostly mad at myself for not seeing what Matthew was like. I should have protected you from him the night of the dance. I knew he'd had too much to drink." He looked at her and arched an eyebrow. "I'd had too much to drink that night myself." He traced the outline of her chin. "Tell me what he did."

  "It isn't important. I don't want to talk about him anymore," she said, pressing her breasts against his bare chest and making his eyes dilate with passion. He lowered his mouth to hers and fit her to the length of his body. They had become accustomed to each other in a short time, and they seemed to fit together as if nature had intended them to find each other.

  "You may have been too drunk to remember that I tricked you into marrying me," she said, running her fingers through his thick black hair. "I was out to catch you, cowboy, and I did."

  He burst into laughter, his whole body shaking with mirth.

  She raised herself up on her elbow and looked puzzled. "What do you find so funny about that?"

  "The fact that someone who looks like you, someone who was born a Vincente, would have to trick a man like me into marriage. I'd liken that to a man being invited into paradise and told his every wish would be granted."

  She felt warm all over. "Is that how you see it?"

  He tugged at her gown and swiftly had it off. His hands moved over her, pulling her against him. He lifted her just a bit so she fit snugly against his throbbing erection. "When I take you, it's always like being given my fondest wish," he muttered in her ear, his mouth working its way to her breasts.

  Their lovemaking was frantic, and so intense that afterward they were both exhausted. She rolled her head against his hard chest, feeling completely fulfilled as a woman.

  "Are you ever sorry you married me, Reese?"

  His hand gripped her shoulder, and he moved forward to bury his face in her golden hair. "I can't think of anything I have to regret."

  "I'm glad. I want to make you happy."

  He closed his eyes, gathering her to him, gently stroking her back. "I don't know why you would want to bother with me. I know there have been times when I have said things to hurt you, and I haven't always been easy to live with. I don't know why I've been this way with you. You are the last person in the world I'd ever want to hurt."

  She moved her head up and rested her cheek against his. "I know why."

  "Then you'd better tell me, because I sure as hell don't know."

  She could have told him that he loved her, but she wasn't sure if he had realized it yet. "A woman has to have some secrets," she said, drowsily closing her eyes.

  She fell asleep in his arms, and he held her to him as if she was the most precious gift he'd ever been given. He was more confused than ever. Saber could have had any man she wanted and yet she had chosen him.

  He touched his lips to her forehead and felt her steady breathing against his neck. "I love you," he whispered. "I love you so much it's tearing my guts out."

  Saber slept on, unaware that her husband had just declared his love for her.

  Reese awoke before sunup and found Saber still snuggled against him. One creamy breast was above the cover, and he dipped his head to touch his lips to the rosy tip.

  Her eyes opened, and a smile curved her lips. "Is it morning alread
y?"

  His hand went to her other breast, and he gently circled it with an exploring finger. "It's time to getup."

  She climbed on top of him and sat up, drawing a gasp of wonder and delight from him. She guided him inside her and settled him deeply. "Of course, if we don't have time for this..." she taunted.

  He growled and rolled her over, losing control completely. "You little tormentor. I don't know how I have the strength to keep you satisfied."

  She laughed and kissed his lips. "That's because I feed you so well."

  His silver eyes gleamed, and then drifted shut as her velvety softness closed around him. "I seem to live for the times I can get inside you," he whispered. "You have me just where you want me, don't you?"

  Desire was coiling inside her, and she could hardly think past the pleasure he gave her. "Yes, cowboy, I have you just where I want you."

  Afterward, as they dressed for the day, Reese asked Saber, "How would you like to ride into town with me today? I have business at the bank."

  She beamed with pleasure. "I'd like nothing better. And I could do with some supplies."

  "Then be ready by nine. I'm going to have several of the men ride along with us just to be safe."

  She knew he was worried about Graham Felton, and for that matter, so was she.

  Reese had chosen Jake, Zeb, and three of Noble's vaqueros to ride with them into Fort Worth. They hadn't ridden very far from the ranch when he realized they were being followed. He had seen the flash of the sun off a rifle or something shiny. He met Zeb's gaze and realized that the old-timer had seen it, too.

  Not wanting to alarm Saber, he halted his horse, and the others did the same. "I'm going to backtrack for a mile or so. The rest of you ride on, and I'll either catch up with you or meet you in town." Reese motioned for the other four to close ranks around Saber, and he lowered his voice so only Zeb could hear. "Don't stop for anything and don't spare the horses."

  Zeb nodded. "I'll take care of her. You just look to yourself. If it's that Felton fellow, I hear he's not quite right in the head."